Canada Day: Get ready for a party in Whitby

Whitby This Week

Whitby will be ready for its closeup come July 1 when residents celebrate red, white and the maple leaf.

Canada celebrates its 147th birthday and there is much for us to collectively celebrate. We are among the most wealthy and progressive nations on earth. We welcome people from around the globe and invite them to join us in celebrating our diversity, our unique success as a multicultural nation, and as another tile in our cultural mosaic.

We are an embracing, tolerant nation with a healthy democracy. We support personal liberty and freedom: free markets, free speech and “free” health care. We answer the call to assist allies and the oppressed on the other side of the world; our young men and women serving in our armed forces do so with honour and dignity.

Our education system is among the best in the world and prepares young minds for the rigours and challenges of adulthood, graduating knowledgeable, curious and ambitious students in a range of academic and professional disciplines.

We offer a hand up to a neighbour when it’s needed, dig deep to fund meaningful charitable causes, provide an important and sustainable financial safety net for our seniors, and do a pretty good job of making the rest of the world laugh.

We are a young nation among nations, one much smaller than many of our G7 counterparts, but we engage confidently and knowledgeably.

Here at home, we live in a community that is, for the most part, well run and flourishing. We have made comfortable lives for ourselves, we take full advantage of and enjoy the benefits of citizenship.

We are patriots, but aren’t much for chest-beating and eschew the notion of exceptionalism.

We are Canadian. We are the red and white. We are the maple leaf.

In Whitby, the fun starts for residents at noon with the County Town Carnival celebration, culminating with fireworks at 10 p.m. at Victoria Fields, 345 Watson St. W. The free event features children’s activities, live entertainment, a petting zoo and jumping castles. Parking is available at Iroquois Park Sports Centre and Whitby GO station. Harbour Day is also being celebrated at the Port Whitby Marina, from noon to 10 p.m.